A “for lease” sign now hangs in a window at 2352 Wisconsin Ave. in Northwest.
To finally kick out the alleged brothel that used to be there, it took two lawsuits by D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles and one police raid.
Nickles filed the first lawsuit against what was commonly known as Venus in May 2007, demanding it shut down until it obtained a license to operate as a massage parlor.
Included in the complaint was a sworn statement by a Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs investigator who said he had visited Venus on two occasions earlier that spring. On a March 30, 2007, visit he was met by a “scantily clad, young Asian female,” he wrote. She was wearing a halter top, short skirt and high heels. There weren’t appointments available, so he returned April 9, 2007, and was offered a massage for $60 an hour. He left without paying.
In October 2007, Nickles dropped the lawsuit a week after DCRA sent a notice to Venus owner Sun Cha Kim saying the agency planned to revoke the parlor’s license to occupy the space. On Nov. 1, 2007, Kim met with DCRA officials and claimed there was no massage parlor at 2352 Wisconsin Ave.
On Dec. 18, DCRA officially revoked the occupancy license. On Dec. 27, District police raided Venus and arrested two women on prostitution-related charges.
But Venus never closed. On Jan. 22, a DCRA investigator wrote in a sworn statement that he received information from residents that men had been entering the establishment for “a week or two.” The next day, Nickles filed a second lawsuit.
When the case was dismissed in March, Venus was finally shut down.
